The present disclosure generally relates to tunable property automotive brackets.
Brackets utilized in and about the front ends of automotive vehicles are commonly formed of a high modulus (stiffness) metal, such as steel. Prior art FIG. 1 illustrates one such bracket, generally designated by reference numeral 10, wherein the entire structure is formed of a high modulus metal, such as steel. Generally, these brackets are disposed intermediate a vehicle frame and a vehicle body, e.g., a fender, hood, headlight, grille, other adjoining components, and the like. The brackets are used to fix and hold such components in proper relative position and support static and dynamic (due to driving inputs) loading of components of the vehicle body relative to the underlying framing members. These static and dynamic loads are related to the inertial masses of the components and thus are in general low, and the bracket stiffness must be greater than what is required by these in order to be effective to prevent dimpling and/or excessive displacement upon an individual leaning or sitting on the vehicle exterior surface. During a discrete rapid short duration loading event of the hood, current brackets, because their stiffness is not tunable, necessarily provide a fixed response, which response is inherent to the properties of the rigid metal used to form the bracket.
It would be desirable to have a tunable bracket that can variously and selectively change the stiffness, yield strength, damping capabilities and/or force/deflection characteristic of a vehicle structural member in cooperative communication therewith. In this manner, the bracket can be used to meet the desired static load requirements for the location of the bracket, yet selectively provide energy dissipation, direction, and absorption properties that are desirable in a rapid loading event or during another situation when a variation in bracket properties would result in advantageous performance.